3rd Person Canterlot Crash Site, 2:59 PM
The sounds of fighting filled the air.
Swords deflecting spear jabs, armor protecting against amateurly swung blades.
Steel clanging against steel.
Now, joining the steel, magic.
Fierce, powerful, arcane lighting.
Several unconscious stallions lay by the wreckage.
One bright red, great hair, and extremely handsome. Probably really important.
The others were pretty regular by the looks though.
A large, white Alicorn rushes up to the group, protected by her guards best they can, against their ruthless aggressors.
"Impact! Impact!" The Alicorn paused. "Chris!"
1st Person Canterlot, Crash Site 3:00 PM
I breathed in a deep breath, and opened my eyes to see Princess Celestia kneeling over me with relief in her eyes.
"Well now..." I began. "...Good Morning!" I said a little too jollily Her look of relief faded. "You need to wake up your friends."
I nodded. "Way ahead of you."
Slowly but surely, the group all woke up.
I stood to asses the situation.
I gotta say, the odds weren't exactly in our favor.
There were a few more dead royal guards than there were living ones.
"Dude! Everybody's dying!" Jeffery shouted.
He was right about that.
We needed help.
"Where's Luna?" I hastily asked Celestia.
Celestia let a beam of magic before she answered.
"Overseeing the Royal Reserves. Why?"
I nearly began to fly off without directions.
"Where?" I asked.
Celestia pointed, and I followed.
I flew past buildings, speeding up every few seconds.
I stopped at the directed building.
"Luna!" I shouted, running through the hallways of the Reserve's Tower.
Bursting through the door, Luna was directing a line of Royal Reserves.
The Big`uns.
"Do you all understand your orders?" Luna asked.
They all let out a simultaneous "Yes Ma`am!"
Luna sighed. "I worry for these stallions, Chris Shane." She said grimly.
I approached her. "Because they're young and untrained? You are sending them against somewhat trained stallions." I explained.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Young and untrained? These are the Canterlot Royal Reserves! They are the most experienced fighters and guards in all Equestria!" She stated. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, things are different where I come from." I said. "Anyway, if they're great and experienced fighters, then what is there to worry about?"
Princess Luna did not speak.
"Luna?" I said quietly.
Finally, she spoke up.
"There is a magic here, Carrier. One that I, nor my sister can stop. It is a dark, black magic. We need your help."
I was somewhat taken aback. I knew stuff was going down, but that sounded pretty intense.
"Hey, that's what I'm here for, ain't it?" I said.
"No. Carrier, there is something I need to tell you." Luna said, looking away from the skyline and towards me.
"You were a mis-" Her sentence was interrupted by a rather rude intruder.
A large, black swirling mass floated into the tower, through the balcony.
In an instant, the mass shifted in a large, stone being. A pony, yet with black, lifeless eyes.
It was a little taller then Princess Luna.
"Golem!" She shouted.
Suddenly, three guards burst through the doors, toting spears mounted on their sides to point directly at the enemy.
The Golem paid no attention to them, instead, it's eyes were focused on Princess Luna.
It charged toward her at speeds that it somehow was able to reach, despite looking to be made entirely of stone.
Princess Luna summoned her spell just a little too late.
The impact looked and sounded painful.
Luna bounced back, far away from the Golem, a crumpled, broken mess.
"Luna!" I shouted, and the Golem chose me as his next target.
It charged again, this time at me, though I rolled out of the way, feeling the wind from his momentum brush against my hooves.
I thought for moment, choosing my options.
I can't fight it with bladed weapons, those would just blunt them down.
I noticed the small cracks all over his body. I can pull him apart!
Summoning the Scythe in my hand, it began to materialize...
...And then it turned back into nothing.
"What in the name of...?" I said to myself.
I felt a small decline in my magical strength.
I noticed a small amount of black mist forming from the cracks in his stone body.
"Crap." I said. "Anti-Magic is a thing?"
I heard the gallop of heavy hooves as the three guards charge the Golem.
Without difficulty, it swept two of them away, and kicked the remaining one.
"Impact!" I heard Celestia's voice call.
I turned around to see her horn glowing as she galloped towards me.
"Hey now..." I said, raising my hooves. "Careful where you point that thing, will you?"
She seemed to ignore me at fire a beam of pink magic.
I gotta say though, I felt Fabulous.
White and gold armor began to form out of nowhere, covering me in steel.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, looking at my gloves.
I felt like quite the Bad-A.
Shaking out my limbs, I faced the Golem, now on the other side of the room.
We both took a second to ready ourselves for whatever Impact around the bend.
Suddenly, the Golem charged forwards, and I did the same.
Instead of hitting it, I slid down on my back, sliding between the Golem's legs.
As I was under it, I jammed my hoof up into a crack on his belly.
A small groan of pain was heard.
The Golem dragged me along the marble floor, trampling the sides of my legs every so often.
Before he could step on me anymore then he already was, I threw my other hoof into the crack.
The Golem yelped again.
I rolled my shoulders best I could at that moment, then pulled my hooves away from each other.
The Golem let out long, deep groan.
As I pulled apart, the Anti-Magic found it's way into my lungs.
Surprising me, I lost my grip on the Golem, and I came tumbling out from under it.
I coughed, launching the black mist out.
Shaking my head, I jeered. "S`matter? Don't like a hand up your crack?"
The Golem, slower now, turned around to look at me again.
Slowly, the Anti-Magic began to envelope him.
Eventually, the Golem was completely mist, and began floating back out the balcony.
"Sister!" Celestia shouted, galloping towards Luna.
Kneeling down by Luna, I examined the wounds.
"Luna, please." Celestia begged.
Luna barely opened her eyes.
"Celestia. I... I'm scared." Luna said with a pathetic voice.
Tears began to well in Celestia's eyes.
Celestia held Luna's hoof in her own.
"Chris, you need to help the Reserves at the crash." Celestia said.
She looked at me with pleading eyes.
"I understand." I said, and did as I was asked.
Flying through alleys as shortcuts was daunting, with the mental distraction.
Luna had been hit hard, by a few tons worth of stone. I didn't expect her to...
...My hopes weren't what most would call "high".
I arrived at the crash to see that the invaders had been killed with only a single Reserve loss.
"Chris!" Jeffery shouted. "I killed a guy! Chris?"
My expression was grim. Ponies had gathered around me.
"What's wrong, Chris?" Joshua questioned.
I sighed. "Luna... was gravely wounded. I don't think she'll make it."
There was a silence among the group.
1 Day Later, Canterlot Gardens, 12:02 AM
The near entirety of Canterlot was attending the funeral, and so were most other cities in Equestria, The mane six(Excluding Twilight, of course.) had come also.
All the lights in the city had been turned off.
The moon shone high in the sky.
One by one, ponies began to step up to the casket and say a few words to Luna.
A few ponies left gifts for her, too.
Celestia stood near the casket as the final pony said their words.
"Goodbye, Luna." Celestia whispered into the casket.
Celestia's horn began to glow, the aura of magic engulfing the casket, closing the lid.
A few unicorns from the crowd stepped up next to the casket, and held it with their magic also.
Together, Celestia and the Unicorns lifted the casket upwards, towards the moon.
Eventually, Celestia stopped holding the casket, and the Unicorns followed.
It continued to float up, into the moon.
Most of the ponies stayed for a while, the rest left when the casket left their vision.
I stood for a few minutes, staring at the moon.
From behind me, Applejack's voice said, "Hey sugarcubes. I thinks it's 'bout time we headed on home."
I breathed in, than out.
"Right." I shook my head and turned towards her.
12:24 AM, The Emerald Fortress Inn, Canterlot.
We all sat in our common room (A rented room for several guests at a time.) in silence, awaiting the feeling of sleepiness to take over.
The room was set up with bunk beds against the walls, chests on either end of each bunk.
On the wall adjacent of my bunk, was a doorway to a rather long stairwell leading down to the lobby and pub.
A few other ponies had rented beds, and were all asleep.
I was lost in thought. It felt like there was something I could've done to prevent Luna's death.
I wish I knew her better.
Rainbow Dash's head lowered, upside down from her bed above mine.
"Hey, Chris?" She asked, waking me from my mental vacation.
I looked at her, and said, "Yeah, Rainbow Dash?"
"What... Exactly happened? With Luna?" She queried.
I thought. "A Golem came and..."
"A Golem?"
I nodded. "Big stone pony."
Rainbow Dashes expression turned sadder.
"Oh. I see." She seemed satisfied with my answer and went back to her bunk.
Closing my eyes, I began to wander off to sleep.
12:20 AM, Canterlot Gardens
The Gardens were now empty, save for Discord and Celestia.
"I don't think I can face anyone right now." Celestia told Discord, tears trailing down her face.
Discord had a sympathetic expression.
"Could you tell Chris about the Wissenschaftler for me?" Celestia asked.
Discord nodded. "Of course I can. I'll talk to him about it tonight"
Celestia sighed. "Thank you so much, Discord."
He snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Unknown time, Unknown Place
"Chris... Can you hear me?" I heard Discord say.
I shook my head and woke up.
"What's it now, Discord?" I asked groggily.
Discord appeared behind me, and I spun to face him.
"Do you remember the note Celesia sent you before your visit?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Well, the problem she was speaking of was about i Scientist from Germaneigh calling himself Wissenschaftler. He is wanted in Germaneigh for suspected drug cooking." Discord summarized.
I raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"He actually is an alchemist of sorts. Not turning bronze to gold, but mixtures and concoctions. Though he is currently in Stalliongrad. Germaneigh forces can't get him here. Celestia was thinking we could convince Germaneigh to pardon him if he joins you."
A was taken aback "What? He's a wanted stallion!"
"He's a genius." Discord retorted.
I sighed. "Alright. Whatever the princess says, goes, I guess."
Discord raised his finger. "One last thing, how's your headache, Chris?"
A rubbed my once-throbbing head. "Fine, why?"
"That was me, FYI." Discord said.
"Ah." I began. "I see."
Snapping his fingers, Discord vanished.
My eyes slowly opened.
"Morning Twi." A said, clearly very groggy.
A looked over to see nopony beside me.
Sighing, A sat up and layed my hooves on the ground.
'Bear with me, Twi. I'm coming.' I thought to myself.
Looking around the room, I saw only a few ponies were awake, including Applejack and Fluttershy.
The other ponies were leaving the common room.
Nopony in the room looked excited, nor happy, unlike they usually are.
These were sad times for Equestria indeed.
I heard an all-too-familiar accent speaking with the inn owner.
"Yes, all five of them." The accented pony said.
There was a moment of silence between them.
"You, know them?" He asked suspiciously.
"Mm. No, but these do."
I heard a bag of Bits hit the counter.
"Well, when you put it that way..." The owner said. "Up those stairs."
I shot up from my bed.
"Pinkie! Rarity! Rainbow Dash!" I whispered a little loudly.
The Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both shot up, while Rarity rolled off of her top-bunk.
With a few snortles, Rarity woke up. "What!?"
"Someone's coming!" I said.
Pinkie let out a dramatic gasp. "Wait, who?"
I pointed to the stairwell. "A zebra! He's looking for us! HIDE!"
Pinkie threw her covers over herself, and I rushed to an empty top-bunk to do the same.
Applejack and Fluttershy hid in a chest.
Rarity, using magic, moved a bunk bed, hid behind it, and moved it back.
Rainbow Dash flew to the ceiling and grabbed a rotted out hole in the wood.
I peeked out of my covers.
A few seconds later, an old friend entered the room.
"Check the beds, Zumbal." A pony that looked like the one in the carriage said.
"On it." Zumbal replied, going towards my bed.
The zebra from the carriage began searching chests, close to Applejack's hiding spot.
Zumbal lazily searched the top-bunk, and turned around to hop off the ladder.
Taking the opportunity, I jumped out of the bed sheet and wrapped my right arm around Zumbal's neck.
I dragged him back onto the bed, whispering "Shh..." in his ear.
Cause I'm a professional like that Once he stopped struggling, I let go, and climbed back under the covers.
The zebra was getting closer to Applejack.
A tiny, pony-sized chest in the Emerald Fortress Inn...
Applejack heard his footsteps as he inched closer, stopping to check every chest.
She needed to think of something, fast.
Applejack adjusted an uncomfortable elbow.
Her elbow grazed a slightly uneven part of the chest, and she fell from the bottom of the chest.
She had hit a button and opened a trap door to a cellar of some sorts.
The trap door closed.
In the cellar, there were tables with lab equipment, alchemy tables,
and bookshelves.
There was a notebook on a table with a few books and potions.
Applejack trotted over to the notebook.
Opening it up, she was about to read aloud, before seeing that it was all written in another language.
Putting down the notebook, Applejack walked over to the table with lab equipment.
To her her, it looked like a bunch of test tubes and pottery.
Applejack fiddled with the glass bottles before abandoning the equipment and moving to the bookshelf.
Picking out a book, she opened it to the first page.
"Synthesiser Instructions, Chapter 1
Congratulations on your purchase of a "Labby's Synthesis Gear"!
Disclaimer: Labby's Inc. is not responsible, nor is any party involved responsible for injury or mutilation caused by medications and drugs created by the user.
Warning! Keep away from fillies and colts, uncertified elders, and untrained mares and stallions.
To use your Synthesiser, you will need two ingredients. Ingredient A and B. place these in their respective trays..."
Applejack put the book back in the shelf, deeming it a little too much for her.
The Emerald Inn...
The zebra had finally gotten to Applejack's chest.
I was about to jump at him when he saw Applejack, but what came next surprised me.
When he opened the chest, there was nopony there.
"Zumbal? I'm leaving. Meet me at the Outpost." The zebra said, leaving.
When we heard the door open and close, everypony let out a sigh of relief.
"Where's AJ?!" Rainbow Dash asked the group.
Pinkie Pie gasped again. "She's a relative of Hoofdini!" The pink cotton candy-maned mare shouted.
I walked up to the chest Applejack was hiding in and opened the lid.
Examining the now-empty chest, I found nothing but evidence proving Pinkie's point.
Stepping into the chest to listen for a hollow wall or something, I stepped on a button, dropping me into a cellar, and onto Applejack.
"Dogpile!" Pinkie Pie said festively, diving onto me and Applejack.
She knocked the air out of me and AJ, forcing a "Squee" sound from us.
Pinkie Pie jumped off of us, and onto the floor of the cellar.
I got off of Applejack and looked around the room.
There was a ladder leading up towards the trap door we came in on.
It looked to be a lab, with alchemy stations, a synthesiser, and a bookshelf.
"What is this place?" I asked.
Applejack re-rounded her hat. "A lab 'a some sorts. No idea what most of these gizmos do." She said, placing her hat back on her head.
Rarity began to climb down the ladder.
The white, posh pony brushed herself off, and took a look around the room.
She screamed bloody murder.
We all jumped at her near glass-shattering yelp.
"How drab!" She said.
Raising an eyebrow, I returned to examination of the lab.
There was a table on the far side of the room.
I walked up to it, and grabbed a notebook from it.
To my surprise, it was all written in German.
"Good luck with that, sugar cubes. Nothing but mumbo jumbo to me." AJ chimed.
Skimming through the book, I saw that date on the last entry was from two days ago.
I looked for a signature of sorts, and found the name "der Wissenschaftler"
My ears perked. "That's who we're looking for! der Wissenschaftler!" I said aloud.
"The who now?" Applejack questioned.
I put the book down. "A scientist from Germaneigh. We're supposed to see if he'll come with us to get Twilight." I explained.
Pinkie Pie seemed to be excited.
"I'm gonna learn German!" She yelled.
Rarity suddenly looked as though she was about to faint.
"What's wrong?" AJ asked.
Rarity wiped her brow. "I thought that this place was completely lost until I saw that beauty!" She pointed towards a medium-sized purple luminescent crystal.
The group walked over to the pedestal it sat on.
Under the pedestal, was a plaque that read; "Agent X: Carnivorous Alpaca Blood. Agent Y: Rainbow Sage. Agent Z: Shadowy Unicorn Essence"
"What is this stuff?" Pinkie asked.
I smirked. "Why don't we ask the guy who made it?"
"Darling, whatever do you mean by that?" Rarity said.
"Girls..." I began. "...We're going to Stalliongrad."
A.N: Sorry about the wait guys, took longer than expected. I've started homeschool, so there might be longer intervals between chapters. But I will be working hard to make them longer. One last thing. I forgot to mention the languages used in chapter 18. The zebras spoke Afrikaans, and the german spoke... well German. Let me know if you'd like me to continue using foreign languages (I never use them for important things, don't worry.) Or not.